News
August 11th, 2008 | Posted in News
There was a feature story in the New York Times this weekend about a recent comic strip/comic book that was illustrated by comic legends Neal Adams and Joe Kubert, with a forward by Stan Lee, done in support of artist and holocaust survivor Dina Babbitt. Mrs. Babbitt has been struggling to regain possession of paintings and artwork she was forced to do when she was in Auschwitz by the notorious Josef Mengele. Read the comic strip for the story of a courageous woman and the horrors she was subjected to. I’m going to assume that the creators of this comic would want it to be… READ MORE
August 5th, 2008 | Posted in MAD Magazine
This was all over the internet yesterday… when I first heard about it I thought it might have been a hoax but apparently it was accurate. Hard to believe. This was first reported on The Consumerist website via an anonymous tipster. In MAD #492 there was a 4 page article spoofing a Circuit City Sunday newspaper ad in typical MAD fashion. As it turns out, a few Circuit City stores carry some magazines including, you guessed it, MAD. Overzealous corporate operations executive Elizabeth Barron sent out this mass corporate e-memo (courtesy of The Consumerist): That’s right, she (and by osmosis Circuit City itself) wanted all… READ MORE
July 30th, 2008 | Posted in News
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP: ORPHAN WORKS BILL HOTLINED THIS MEANS IT COULD PASS THE SENATE THIS AFTERNOON PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS IMMEDIATELY ASK THEM TO PUT A “HOLD” ON THE BILL: S2913 THE SHAWN BENTLEY ORPHAN WORKS ACT OF 2008 TELL THEM YOU OPPOSE THIS CONTROVERSIAL BILL ASK THEM NOT TO PASS IT WITHOUT A FULL AND OPEN HEARING WARN THEM THAT IT WILL DO GREAT HARM TO SMALL BUSINESSES To find your Senators’ phone numbers go to the Illustrators’ Partnership Orphan Works site: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ At the top of the home page, click on “Elected Officials” You’ll find a US map: Click on your state,… READ MORE
July 14th, 2008 | Posted in News
Used with permission Big news on the Orphan Works front today. The House version, H.R. 5889, may go before the US House Judiciary Committee this week for mark up. This is a process where the the Judicary Committee reviews a bill and then considers any ammendments to it prior to it’s being sent to the floor for full House consideration. Now would be a good time to act if you have been procrastinating on this issue. Here is a correspondence sent out from the National Cartoonist Society today: PLEASE TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO READ THIS?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ” AND THEN ACT ON IT. YOUR COPYRIGHTS AND FUTURE… READ MORE
July 3rd, 2008 | Posted in News
… good question. It’s “before the legislature” right now, meaning the 110th US Congress somewhere, but is not on the radar for imminent discussion or voting, and both the house and senate are about to take a break until the second week of August. However this can quickly change as bills often get pushed through on the backs of other bills that our esteemed congressional leaders want to see approved for their own reasons, and will vote for one to get votes for the other. Opposition or endorsement of a law is also dependent on whether it applies to someone or not in the sleazy… READ MORE
June 19th, 2008 | Posted in MAD Magazine
The St. Louis Artist’s Guild has apparently hit rock bottom, as they are stooping to an exhibit of artwork from MAD Magazine and as a result will no doubt lose all credibility as a patron of the arts. Worse yet, they aren’t even making any money off of it as it is free to the public!! What are they thinking? The show opening this Sunday with a reception from 1:00- 3:00 pm at the Guild’s gallery, and runs through Sept. 6th. I do not believe that there is any of my artwork in it, unless it’s from some private collection. All the more reason to… READ MORE
May 30th, 2008 | Posted in News
This morning I got a phone call from my friend, NYC illustrator Ed Steckley, who informed me my website was acting strangely. It was insisting on installing a program that his anti-virus software was jumping up and down and yelping about being a very naughty program. I couldn’t even open the website at all on my Mac. A few e-mails to my excellent webhosts, A2Zhost.net, and it was discovered that someone hacked my blog this morning and inserted some Javascript code to require a browser to download some kind of virus, adware or spyware something or another. The folks at A2Z fixed it all up… READ MORE
May 30th, 2008 | Posted in News
I forgot to mention one other good thing to come out of the Reuben weekend was that the NCS addressed the Orphan Works legislation at their annual business meeting on Saturday morning. Stu Rees, the NCS’s official unofficial lawyer to the membership, educated those at the meeting about the bill and what it could mean to them. It’s a larger problem for some of the long time cartoonists who have done tens of thousands of gag cartoons or illustrations over the years who could easily find their work being used without their consent or without the chance to negotiate a fair rate for it, as… READ MORE
